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A) Can you please categorise how those known to the team dealing with elective home education became known? E.g. School, Doctor, self-referral, concerns about the educational provision reported etc.

i) Does the local authority seek to satisfy itself that the educational provision the parent(s) are providing is suitable to the child's age, aptitude, ability and any SEN as soon as they become aware that parents are electively home educating, regardless of how they become known to the local authority?

ii) How many instances have there been from June 2016, 2017 and to the date of this FOI where the person dealing with elective home education has or has had concerns that a 'suitable' education is not being provided?

B) I would also appreciate it if this information could be broken down into categories:

1) whether they feel that no education is taking place?
2) whether they feel that the philosophy of education is inadequate - for example in the case of autonomous or child led learning, that the particular child is not appearing to be learning 'enough'?
3) whether there are concerns because the family have not implemented a structured approach?
4) or whether the fact that the national Curriculum is not being followed is causing concern?
5) a qualified third party is not involved in the child’s education?
6) An educational report has not been provided by a third party such as; a teacher etc.

C) I would like to know of these children, how many of these concerns were proven?

i) Of the children in the above 6 categories, please indicate if further steps have or are being taken - for example, referred to CME or issued with a School Attendance Order. Please break it down into each year asked for.

ii) Please indicate how many of these went to court in 2016 and 2017.

iii) Please also indicate if any Education Supervision Orders are currently in court for this population?

Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective home education including policies, procedures (2015 - present) and recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect to be redacted).

Thank you for your recent request for information, which will be treated
as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

Your enquiry has been given a reference number 20180308-00013-1. Please
quote this reference in any future correspondence with us concerning this
matter.

As of the 1st April 2017, if the information you are requesting falls
under EIR (see [1]here for more details) then a charge may be applicable
in line with [2]guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office. Once
your request has been reviewed you will be informed of an appropriate
charge that may be applied.

In accordance with the Act, a response will be sent to you within 20
working days from the date following the receipt of the request or receipt
of an applicable payment.

Dear St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council, A) Can you please categorise
how those known to the team dealing with elective home education became
known? E.g. School, Doctor, self-referral, concerns about the educational
provision reported etc. i) Does the local authority seek to satisfy itself
that the educational provision the parent(s) are providing is suitable to
the child's age, aptitude, ability and any SEN as soon as they become
aware that parents are electively home educating, regardless of how they
become known to the local authority? ii) How many instances have there
been from June 2016, 2017 and to the date of this FOI where the person
dealing with elective home education has or has had concerns that a
'suitable' education is not being provided? B) I would also appreciate it
if this information could be broken down into categories: 1) whether they
feel that no education is taking place? 2) whether they feel that the
philosophy of education is inadequate - for example in the case of
autonomous or child led learning, that the particular child is not
appearing to be learning 'enough'? 3) whether there are concerns because
the family have not implemented a structured approach? 4) or whether the
fact that the national Curriculum is not being followed is causing
concern? 5) a qualified third party is not involved in the childb .s
education? 6) An educational report has not been provided by a third party
such as; a teacher etc. C) I would like to know of these children, how
many of these concerns were proven? i) Of the children in the above 6
categories, please indicate if further steps have or are being taken - for
example, referred to CME or issued with a School Attendance Order. Please
break it down into each year asked for. ii) Please indicate how many of
these went to court in 2016 and 2017. iii) Please also indicate if any
Education Supervision Orders are currently in court for this population?
Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective
home education including policies, procedures (2015 - present) and
recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 -
present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include
communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively
home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect
to be redacted). Yours faithfully, J Carter
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1 Attachment

If you disagree with our decision or are otherwise unhappy with how we
have dealt with your request, in the first instance please write to St
Helens Council, Internal Audit, Town Hall, Victoria Square, St Helens,
Merseyside WA10 1HP.
Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right under
Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act to appeal against the
decision by contacting the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

"This e-mail and any file transmitted with it are confidential, subject to
copyright and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to
whom they are addressed. It may contain privileged information. Any
unauthorised review, use, disclosure, distribution or publication is
prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please contact the
sender by reply e-mail and destroy and delete the message and all copies
from your computer. "

Thank you for your response. Please answer the last part of the initial FOI.

"Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective home education including policies, procedures (2015 - present) and recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail attachments. This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect to be redacted)."

Thank you for your recent request for information, which will be treated
as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

Your enquiry has been given a reference number 20180310-00031-1. Please
quote this reference in any future correspondence with us concerning this
matter.

As of the 1st April 2017, if the information you are requesting falls
under EIR (see [1]here for more details) then a charge may be applicable
in line with [2]guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office. Once
your request has been reviewed you will be informed of an appropriate
charge that may be applied.

In accordance with the Act, a response will be sent to you within 20
working days from the date following the receipt of the request or receipt
of an applicable payment.

Dear St.Helens Council, Thank you for your response. Please answer the
last part of the initial FOI. "Finally, please provide all recorded
documentation relating to elective home education including policies,
procedures (2015 - present) and recorded communications relating to
elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail
attachments. This does not include communications between the Elective
Home Education team and electively home educating parents or information
that falls under S40 (which I expect to be redacted)." Yours sincerely, J
Carter -----Original Message----- Please find information as requested
Regards Education Welfare Service If you disagree with our decision or are
otherwise unhappy with how we have dealt with your request, in the first
instance please write to St Helens Council, Internal Audit, Town Hall,
Victoria Square, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 1HP. Should you remain
dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right under Section 50 of the
Freedom of Information Act to appeal against the decision by contacting
the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9
5AF. "This e-mail and any file transmitted with it are confidential,
subject to copyright and intended solely for the use of the individual or
entity to whom they are addressed. It may contain privileged information.
Any unauthorised review, use, disclosure, distribution or publication is
prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please contact the
sender by reply e-mail and destroy and delete the message and all copies
from your computer. "
------------------------------------------------------------------- Please
use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #469425 email] Disclaimer: This message and
any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and
copyright policies: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi... For more
detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice
from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-... Please
note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be
delayed. If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask
your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

If you disagree with our decision or are otherwise unhappy with how we
have dealt with your request, in the first instance please write to St
Helens Council, Internal Audit, Town Hall, Victoria Square, St Helens,
Merseyside WA10 1HP.
Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right under
Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act to appeal against the
decision by contacting the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

"This e-mail and any file transmitted with it are confidential, subject to
copyright and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to
whom they are addressed. It may contain privileged information. Any
unauthorised review, use, disclosure, distribution or publication is
prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please contact the
sender by reply e-mail and destroy and delete the message and all copies
from your computer. "

Please provide copies of recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail attachments as requested in the original FOI. This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect to be redacted).

Thank you for your recent request for information, which will be treated
as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

Your enquiry has been given a reference number 20180313-00087-1. Please
quote this reference in any future correspondence with us concerning this
matter.

As of the 1st April 2017, if the information you are requesting falls
under EIR (see [1]here for more details) then a charge may be applicable
in line with [2]guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office. Once
your request has been reviewed you will be informed of an appropriate
charge that may be applied.

In accordance with the Act, a response will be sent to you within 20
working days from the date following the receipt of the request or receipt
of an applicable payment.

Dear St.Helens Council, Please provide copies of recorded communications
relating to elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail
attachments as requested in the original FOI. This does not include
communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively
home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect
to be redacted). Yours sincerely, J Carter

Thank you for your response. Please answer the final questions from the initial FOI.

Finally, please provide all recorded documentation relating to elective home education including policies, procedures (2015 - present) and recorded communications relating to elective home education (2017 - present), including any e-mail attachments.

This does not include communications between the Elective Home Education team and electively home educating parents or information that falls under S40 (which I expect to be redacted).

Whilst we will hold the information you have requested, for us to identify
the information we would need to check all the emails from the all the
schools in St Helens and all the emails sent to and from the EHE team. We
would then have to redact all the information needed to comply with data
protection and the Caldicott principles. This is to big of a task for us
to complete within the time frames and would greatly exceed the costs as
outlined below.

As per Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the cost of compliance
with doing this would exceed the appropriate limit, where the FOI Act sets
the appropriate limit at £450 for a Local Authority (a public authority
can charge a maximum of £25 per hour for work undertaken to comply with a
request, which equates to 18 hours work).

Therefore we are unable to respond to your request due to the time it
would take to collate the information.

If you disagree with our decision or are otherwise unhappy with how we
have dealt with your request, in the first instance please write to St
Helens Council, Internal Audit, Town Hall, Victoria Square, St Helens,
Merseyside WA10 1HP.
Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right under
Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act to appeal against the
decision by contacting the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

"This e-mail and any file transmitted with it are confidential, subject to
copyright and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to
whom they are addressed. It may contain privileged information. Any
unauthorised review, use, disclosure, distribution or publication is
prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please contact the
sender by reply e-mail and destroy and delete the message and all copies
from your computer. "